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Blockaders prevent work at Enbridge Line 9 site

Residents are blocking access to Enbridge's Line 9 construction site in Etobicoke, Ontario.

The blockaders are preventing workers from accessing the site where Enbridge must complete the necessary construction before the reversed Line 9 can go into operation.

In March, the National Energy Board gave Enbridge the go ahead to reverse flow of oil and increase the capacity of the pipeline by 25 per cent. The pipeline passes through many residential communities and environmental areas. Critics have stated that the proposed construction will pose a threat to those communities and areas in case of a rupture.

Demonstrators argue that the repairs that are being done to the pipeline are a band-aid solution that may lead to eventual rupture.

"Line 9 has nearly 13,000 instances of corrosion, cracks and dents, but they're addressing only a few hundred. Further, they refuse to do the hydrostatic test requested by the province," said demonstrator Lana Goldberg in a statement to the public.

Intelligencer.ca reported that Enbridge stated that the pipeline is not prone to a major rupture and that idea is based on misinformation.

However, in a statement to the public, Rising Tide Toronto, a collective challenging environmental injustice, stated that international pipeline expert, Richard Kuprewicz has given a 90 per cent likelihood of rupture within five years.

"We have stopped work at this site today because every inch of every pipeline is a risk to our most basic need as living beings, water and threatens our homes and communities," said Goldberg.

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